Dr. Denise Faustman, of the immunobiology laboratory of Harvard Medical School, and her colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital have effectively cured laboratory mice of type 1 diabetes through a relatively short and simple therapy.

      The treatment developed by Dr. Faustman and colleagues is a 40-day course of injections with a drug called CFA that induces the body to produce so-called tumor necrosis factor alpha, a signaling molecule of the immune system. Three quarters of the time, the mice remain free of diabetes for the rest of their lives. Although the treatment has not yet been tested in human patients, Dr. Faustman suggests that it may eventually prove effective against a wide array of autoimmune conditions in addition to juvenile diabetes.

      The results that Dr. Faustman has obtained with NOD mice have now been duplicated by other researchers, thus lending credence to her work. In addition, through a presentation to the National Institutes of Health, top level attention has been brought to Dr. Faustman work so that contacts are being made to bring the $11 million needed for a clinical trial.

      As Dr. Stanley M. Finger, Chair of AARDA Board of Directors, comments, "AARDA should be very proud that we funded her research when others thought it was far out."